dozen
 doz‧en S2 W3 /ˈdʌzən/ number (plural dozen or dozens) (written abbreviation doz.)
[date : 1200-1300; Language : Old French; Origin : dozeine, from doze 'twelve']
1. twelve:
▪ a dozen eggs
two/three/four etc dozen (=24, 36, 48 etc)
▪ The number of deaths has risen to more than two dozen.
dozens of people/companies/cars etc (=but not hundreds or thousands)
▪ Dozens of people were killed.
▪ Chris, Helen, and half a dozen others went on holiday together.
▪ A dozen or so (=about 12) cars were parked near the entrance.
2. informal a lot of
a dozen
▪ I’ve heard this story a dozen times before.
dozens of something
▪ She’s had dozens of boyfriends.
▪ We collected dozens and dozens of shells on the beach.
⇨ BAKER’S DOZEN, ⇨ a dime a dozen at dime(2), ⇨ nineteen to the dozen at nineteen(2), ⇨ six of one and half a dozen of another at six(4)
number
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a round hundred/dozen etc (=a complete hundred etc)
baker's dozen
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a dime a dozen
▪ Jobs like his are a dime a dozen.
▪ Girls are a dime a dozen.
▪ Metaphors of Britain's decline have been a dime a dozen in the post-war years.
▪ Sam told her not to worry, jobs like that were a dime a dozen.
▪ So-called solutions to the longitude problem had been a dime a dozen even before the act went into effect.
half a dozen
▪ About half a dozen women and children had appeared and were standing, holding hands, watching me.
▪ Customer-driven systems also allow individuals to meet their needs in a holistic way, without applying to half a dozen different programs.
▪ He found half a dozen fishermen seated under the palm trees at the foot of the Co-operative quay.
▪ I still do half a dozen or so of these scarlet cross-overs a year, to this day.
▪ Inside the cafe there were half a dozen other people.
▪ Perhaps half a dozen were Hispanic, and the rest, black.
▪ Sunday night he was wild on at least a half dozen.
it's six of one and half a dozen of the other
nineteen to the dozen
▪ Everybody except Jurnet clapped, still talking nineteen to the dozen.
▪ Theories must be abounding nineteen to the dozen.
▪ They often went on excursions, always talking away nineteen to the dozen.
talk nineteen to the dozen
▪ Everybody except Jurnet clapped, still talking nineteen to the dozen.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Having only one hand, and having that in a dozen things, he has no other to hold out.
▪ I had some memorable test drives after buying a dozen 6R4s when they were up for grabs at the factory.
▪ Prescott, the administration building, looked the same, except that there were a dozen cars parked outside.
▪ The mood is relaxed-very advisable if you have a dozen sheep to get through in a day.
▪ There were a dozen feature films made, with filming lasting from one week to four months.
▪ They live, like their ancestors, in packs of a dozen or so.
▪ We take two dozen blues and a dozen of their predators, the small green crabs that are never far away.
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